Before packing up our van, we spent some time exploring Winton, the prettiest town so far, famous for the place AB (Banjo) Patterson penned and performed Waltzing Matilda.

Just out of town, 24Km, we stopped for a few hours at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum where we saw a real dinosaur laboratory in action. We saw the actual bones of Banjo (Australia’s most significant and complete carnivorous dinosaurs), and Matilda and Elliot and saw and heard how amazing this collection is and will be in the future as they are finding more fossils all the time. This was a wonderful experience and we were so glad we made time for this.

We then headed to the Stockmen Hall of Fame in Longreach so we could find the tribute to Jack Smyth (and found a mention of my grandfather).

A big ‘thumbs up’ to the staff who let us in for free and showed us to Jack’s bust. We had told them we could only stay for 30 minutes as we had to get to Blackall before dusk. We had spotted more dead carcasses on the side of the road than ever before (including from our time out in Bourke).

Mr Smyth proposed the toast to my parents, Betty and Ray Mahony, at our wedding in 1977. But, more importantly a young Jack Smyth worked for my grandfather Tom Mahony as a stock dealer in Tamworth (from 1926-1938), and then later Dad worked for Jack before Dad went out on his own. Dad and Jack remained great friends until Jack’s death in 1989.

It was a great privilege to see this.

The next few hours of driving brought us to the small township of Blackall on the Barcoo River where we arrived in time for a singalong around a camp fire.

Earlier we passed through Balcadine where there is a monument to the Tree of Knowledge. It was amazing.